Excel Solutions
Visual Studio 2010 provides project templates you can use to create document-level customizations and application-level add-ins for Microsoft Office Excel. You can use these solutions to automate Excel, extend Excel features, and customize the Excel user interface (UI). For more information about the differences between document-level customizations and application-level add-ins, see Office Solutions Development Overview.
Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and application-level projects for Excel 2007 and Excel 2010. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.
This topic provides the following information:
Automating Excel.
Developing document-level customizations for Excel.
Developing application-level add-ins for Excel.
Customizing the user interface of Excel.
Automating Excel
The Excel object model exposes many types that you can use to automate Excel. For example, you can programmatically create charts, format worksheets, and set the values of ranges and cells. For more information, see Excel Object Model Overview.
When developing Excel solutions in Visual Studio 2010, you can also use host items and host controls in your solutions. These are objects that extend certain commonly used objects in the Excel object model, such as the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet and Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Range objects. The extended objects behave like the Excel objects they are based on, but they add additional events and data binding capabilities to the objects. For more information, see Automating Excel by Using Extended Objects.
Developing Document-Level Customizations for Excel
A document-level customization for Microsoft Office Excel consists of an assembly that is associated with a specific workbook. The assembly typically extends the workbook by customizing the user interface (UI) and by automating Excel. Unlike an application-level add-in, which is associated with Excel itself, functionality that you implement in a customization is available only when the associated workbook is open in Excel.
To create a document-level customization project for Excel, use the Excel Workbook or Excel Template project templates in the New Project dialog box of Visual Studio. For more information, see How to: Create Office Projects in Visual Studio.
For more information about how document-level customizations work, see Architecture of Document-Level Customizations.
Excel Customization Programming Model
When you create a document-level project for Excel, Visual Studio generates several classes that are the foundation of your solution: ThisWorkbook, Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. These classes represents the workbook and worksheets that are associated with your solution, and they provide a starting point for writing your code.
For more information about these generated classes and other features you can use in a document-level project, see Programming Document-Level Customizations.
Developing Application-Level Add-ins for Excel
An application-level add-in for Microsoft Office Excel consists of an assembly that is loaded by Excel. The assembly typically extends Excel by customizing the user interface (UI) and by automating Excel. Unlike a document-level customization, which is associated with a specific workbook, functionality that you implement in an add-in is not restricted to any single workbook.
To create an application-level add-in project for Excel, use the Excel Workbook or Excel Template project templates in the New Project dialog box of Visual Studio. For more information, see How to: Create Office Projects in Visual Studio.
For general information about how application-level add-ins work, see Architecture of Application-Level Add-Ins.
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For a related video demonstration, see How Do I: Automate PowerPoint from an Excel Add-in?.
Excel Add-in Programming Model
When you create an Excel add-in project, Visual Studio generates a class, called ThisAddIn, which is the foundation of your solution. This class provides a starting point for writing your code, and it also exposes the object model of Excel to your add-in.
For more information about the ThisAddIn class and other Visual Studio features you can use in an add-in, see Programming Application-Level Add-Ins.
Customizing the User Interface of Excel
There are several different ways to customize the user interface of Excel. Some options are available to all project types, and other options are available only to application-level add-ins or document-level customizations.
Options for All Project Types
The following table lists customization options that are available to both document-level customizations and application-level add-ins.
Task |
For more information |
|---|---|
Customize the Ribbon. |
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Add smart tags to the customized workbook (for a document-level customization) or to any open workbook (for an application-level add-in). |
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Add Windows Forms controls or extended Excel controls to a worksheet in the customized workbook (for a document-level customization) or in any open workbook (for an application-level add-in). |
How to: Add Windows Forms Controls to Office Documents How to: Add Chart Controls to Worksheets |
Options for Document-Level Customizations
The following table lists customization options that are available only to document-level customizations.
Task |
For more information |
|---|---|
Add an actions pane to the workbook. |
|
Add extended range controls that are mapped to XML nodes to a worksheet. |
Options for Application-Level Add-ins
The following table lists customization options that are available only to application-level add-ins.
Task |
For more information |
|---|---|
Create a custom task pane. |
Related Topics
Title |
Description |
|---|---|
Provides an overview of the main types provided by the Excel object model. |
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Provides information about extended objects (provided by the Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime) that you can use in Excel solutions. |
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Contains information about special considerations for Excel solutions that will be run on computers that have non-English settings for Windows. |
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Describes how you can add Windows Forms controls to Excel worksheets. |
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Walkthrough: Creating Your First Document-Level Customization for Excel |
Demonstrates how to create a basic document-level customization for Excel. |
Walkthrough: Creating Your First Application-Level Add-in for Excel |
Demonstrates how to create a basic application-level add-in for Excel. |
Walkthrough: Adding Controls to a Worksheet at Run Time in an Application-Level Project |
Demonstrates how to add a Windows Forms button, a NamedRange, and a ListObject to a worksheet at run time by using an application-level add-in. |
Provides links to articles and reference documentation about developing Excel solutions (not specific to Office development using Visual Studio). |